Brick-re-pressing machine.



n. H. CLOSE.-

BRICK RE-PRESSING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-6, 191i.

Patented Apr. 9, 1918.

3 SHEETSSHEET I.

D. H. CLOSE.

BRICK RE-PRESSING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED was. 1911.

1,262,,1 6w Patented Apr. 9, 1918.

a SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WWW; $52311;

M WW.

Use,

D. H. CLOSE.

BRICK RE-PRESSING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED was. 1911.

Patented Apr. 9, 1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3- an ear DANIEL H. CLOSE, OF ELM'H'URST, NEW YORK,ASSIGNOB. TO VAN VOOIS CLOSE, OF

' NEWARK. NEW JERSEY.

BRICK-RE-PRESSING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

I Application filed August 6, 1917. Serial No. 184,6?4.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that T, DANIEL cross, a citizen of the United States,residing at Elmhurst. in the county of Queens and State of New York,have invented ,certain new and useful Improvements in Brick-Re-PressingMachines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a machine for repressing bricks. Such machinesare of course in use as it is common practice to repress bricks. But alldevices of this character that I have knowledge of are located in afixed position, the pallets are taken from the drying racks, loaded upona truck, moved to the repressing machine and the bricks then lifted byhand from the pallets and placed in the molds, then after beingrepressed they are removed by hand, replaced on the pallets and wheeledback to the racks.

My invention is designed to save as much of the time and labor involvedin this operation as possible.

The invention consists in a repressing machine mounted upon a movableframe which is adapted to travel along a track between the dryingracks,being stopped at any suitable place. The pallets, with from six to tenbricks thereon, are placed on the machine, the pallets are automaticallyadvanced to the molds, all of the bricks on the pallet removed at onetime and placed automatically in the molds. and the pallet then liftedupwardly and transferred by a suitabie conveyer to the opposite side ofthe molds, and the repressed bricks delivered to it. The pallet with therepressed bricks is then moved to the front of the machine,

and lifted therefrom by hand and replaced in the racks. The only handoperation emploved is the lifting of the pallets from the racks to themachine and from the machine back to the'racks.

The invention also consists in the novel features of constructionhereinafter described, pointed out in the claims. and shown in theaccompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is aside elevation, parts beingbroken away.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an end elevation.

Fig. 4 is a side elevation, partly in section, and showing details of acarriage, and carriage releasing and moving devices.

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4..

Fig. 6 1s a section on the line 6 dof some of these features, as theywould, if included, hide parts that relate directly to the invention,would confuse the drawin s, and would of themselves add nothing to thedisclosure. This relates especially to the motor power employed, and themeans for transmitting power from one part to another, either by belts,chains or gears. The device as a whole is intended to be operated byeither an electric motor or a gasolene engine. If with motor it will besupplied with current from an overhead trolley. If by gasolene enginen'o wires will be required. It is obvious that neither the electricmotor, the trolley, .or the engine form a part of the invention, andthey are therefore not The table 1s practically an open frame and at itsrear end portion are transverse shafts 6 provided with wheels 7, on eachside of the table, and belts 8.

At the forward end are similar wheels 11,

shafts 10 and belts 12. The belts 8 and 12 form conveyers at the rearand front of the tables respectively.

In the offset portion of the table are molds 13 provided with lowerplungers 1d which work in the molds, and the molds are separated byvertical partitions 15. These partitions extend above the mold tops andried by a frame 22, and actuated by a rod 23. 'in the usual manner,which rod may be operated in any manner from shaft 18, as by aneccentric 23 The use of'the lower and upper plungers in brick pressingmachines is not claimed as new.

When the bricks are placed in the racks they are held on pallets 24.These pallets are of greater length than the width of the table. Theyusually hold from six to ten bricks, and there will be as many molds andplungers in both upper and lower sets as there are bricks on thepallets. In the draw-.

ings I have illustrated a machine having six of the molds and designedto work with pallets each of which holds six bricks. But

the number is not material.

' When the pallets are lifted from the rack they are placed one'at atime transversely across the belts 8, and are conveyed by the belts tothe ofi'set portion 5 which acts as Thisofi'set is just a stop for thepallets.

- equal to the thickness of the pallets so that p in the mold will bepushed forwardly onto ployed:

the bricks 25 will move smoothly from said pallets to the molds. Toautomatically accomplish this movement I employ a grooved carriage frame26 in which reciprocates a carriage 27 in the form of a rectangularframe, so the upper plungers can work through it. Within the frameforming the carriage are pivoted brick pushing leaves 28 the swingingmovement of which rearwardly is limited by stops 29, these leavesdepending sufficiently to engage the bricks but to clear the tops of themold partitions. At each for-. ward movement of the carriage all thebricks a pallet on the forwardconveyer belts 12,. and a new lot ofbricks will be pushed into the molds from a pallet on the rear conveyerbelts 8. During rear movement of the carriage the leaves will dragfreely over the brick Toprovide for passing the pallets around the moldsthe following mechanism is em- Cog chain wheels 30 which may mesh withthegears 19 on shaft 18, orin case said shaft is driven by pulley andbelt, with suitable gears replacing gears 19,'drive chains 32 runningover idlers 31, four of which are carried by an overhead bracket by theframe 22.

There are two of these chains, one on with the stop 47 the 33 supportedeach side of the'table and they carry small pivoted hangers or lifts 34,mounted to hang to the belts 12, where it will be disengaged.

They are so timed and spaced that they will take a pallet from the rearconveyer just after the carriage has cleared it of bricks,

and will deposit a pallet on; the front conveyer in time to receivea newsupply of repressed bricks.

' The. means for operating the carriage is one of the essential featuresof my invenf tion. A shaft 35 with pulley 36' driven by a belt 37, fromshaft 18 has. on each end portion a loose Wheel 38, grooved for a cable,

and a keyed wheel 39. As these parts are duplicated on each side of thetable,a de-- scription of the mechanism on one side will be sufficient.

A cam block 40 is secured to the. periphery of the wheel 39, and a pin41 is secured on the periphery of the grooved wheel 38, which is of lessdiameter than the wheel 39. On the keyed wheel 39 is placed a springpressed pin 42 1 which works through a laterally extending bracket 43carried by the keyed Wheel. presses this pin radially outwardly so thatit would clear the pin 4 1. Buta curved metal arm 44 is fastened to theunderside of the table and incloses about one half of the periphery ofthe loose wheel 38. v

A cable 38 is secured to the periphery of the wheel 38 working in thegroove, and runs over a guide wheel 45 to a block 46 carried by the rearend of the carriage.

To this block is also connected a catch 47 pivoted to the lower end ofthe block, so that on forward movement of the carriage it will ride overand lock against a stop 47 Thespring normally on the offset portion ofthe table. The carriage is released by the lifting of said catch by apin or rod 47 This rod is normally pressed downwardly by a coil spring48', the rod being carried by a pivoted bracket 49 which has an arm 50extending into the path of the block'40.

Itwill be obvious from this description and the drawings that duringrotation of the wheel 39 the pin 42 will be brought under the curvedportion of the iron arm 44 and be forced down or inwardly so as toengage the pin 41 on wheel 38. This rotates the wheel 38 and winds thecable 38 partly thereon" drawing the carriage forward and as it looks byengagement of the catch 47 pin 42 passes out from under the arm 44 androtation of the wheel 38 stops.

The carnage remains locked against rear sesame movement until cam block40 engages the the weight 53.

To prevent a pallet being pushed or pulled from under the bricks duringreloading stop pins 54: carried by pivoted brackets 55 are employed.These brackets may be tripped at the proper time in any desired Imanner, as by having their rear. ends extend into the path of the camson the shaft 18, or they can be engaged and tripped by the hangerscarried by the chains 32. After a reloaded pallet has been conveyed tothe front end of the table it is removed by hand and replaced in thedrying racks.

I have omitted such details of power transmission in order not to coverup and obscure features of the invention, as the arrangement of gear andbelts etc. are simply matters of mechanical detail and are notconsidered as involving invention, or as forming any part of my actualinvention.

I do not therefore desire to be limited to any particular'means ofmoving the truck or platform 2 along the track, or of operating theplungers or drivmg the conveyers, all of this transmission mechanismbeing old and well known.

What I claim is 1. In a machine of the kind described, a series ofmolds, conveyers arranged on opposite sides of said molds, bothconveyers traveling in the same direction, common means for removingbricks from a pallet on one of said conveyers and for transferringbricks from the molds to a pallet on the other conveyer, and means fortransferrlng the pallets from one conveyer to the other.

2. In a machine of the kind described, a table, conveyers arranged onopposlte end portions of the table, a-series of molds arranged acrossthe center of the table, a reciprocating carriage, means for movlng saidcarriage, and hinged leaves carried by the carriage and adapted to movebricks from -one conveyer to the molds, and from the molds to the otherconveyer.

3. The combination with a series of pressing devices, of conveyersadapted to carry pallets to and from said pressing devices, and chainsmovable on opposite sides of the conveyers and at right angles thereto,for liftin the pallets and transferring them over the pressing devicesfrom one conveyer to the other.

I. In a machine of the kind described, brick pressing molds, means formoving pallets to a point adjacent one side of the pressing devices,means for moving pallets away from the opposite side of the pressingdevice, means for. automatically transferring pallets from one side ofthe pressing devices to the other, said means comprising a carriage, andmeans for moving, lockmg and releasing the carriage at predeterminedtimes.

5. -A brick repressing machine comprising a-series. of molds, means forconveying pallets to and from the molds, a carriage movable above themolds and above one of said conveyers, hinged leaves carried by thecarriage and adapted to engage and push the bricks from the molds to apallet and from a pallet to the molds as the carriage moves forwardly,and means for moving the carriage comprising a driven wheel, an idlewheel, a cable secured to the rear end of the carriage and to the idlewheel, a curved arm extending partly around the idle wheel, a

pin on the idle wheel, a spring pressed pin on the driven wheel, saidpin when engaged by the arm being pressed into alinement with the pin onthe idle wheel, and means for drawing the carriage rearwardly.

6. A machine of the kind described comprising a table having a central,transverse ofiset portion, a series of brick repressing molds carriedthereby, conveyers on opposite sides of the ofiset portion, bothconveyers traveling in the same direction, and adapted to carry palletsto and from said molds, the ofiset in the table acting as a sto for thepallets on one of the conveyers an being equal to the thickness of thepallet, a

reciprocating carriage having means for simultaneously engaging brickson a stopped pallet and on the mold, and moving said bricks respectivelyfrom the pallet to the mold and from the mold to a new pallet, means forregulating movement of the carriage, and traveling chains adapted topick up and transfer empty pallets from one side of the molds to theother.

7. In a device of the kind described comprising conveyers for brickpallets, traveling chains passing upwardly on opposite sides of oneconveyer andv downwardly on oppoe site sides of the other conveyer, andpivoted IQQ TIME,

hangers carried by the chains and adapted lifting pallets from oneconveyer over said molds to the other conveyer, means for moving thebricks from a pallet to the molds and from the molds to another pallet,means for locking the last mentioned pallet against movement whilebricks are being pushed thereon, and means for automatically regulatingthe transfer of the bricks from a pallet to the molds and from the moldsto a pallet.

9. In a. device of the kind described, acarriage reciprocating devicecomprising a fast and a loose wheel, a cable secured to the carriage andto said loose whe'el, means con- .5 necting the fast wheel to the loosewheel during a portion of the rotation of the first mentioned Wheel, acatch carried by the carriage adapted to lock it in forward position,

a rod adapted to tripsaid catch,'means carried by and actuated by thefast wheel for 10 moving said rod and means including a. weight forreturning the carriage to normal position when released.

In testimonywhereof I aflix my signature.

DANIEL HQCLOSE,

